


In Which Simon Builds Blanket Forts

by chamaenerion



Series: Saphael Prompt Fills [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Slash, mentions of character death (clary) at an unspecified time in the future, some kind of weird alternate season 1 timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-19 00:31:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14863238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chamaenerion/pseuds/chamaenerion
Summary: Because it's a Halloween tradition.





	In Which Simon Builds Blanket Forts

**Author's Note:**

> “blanket forts” prompt. somehow it turned into this terribly angsty thing. i am sorry. maybe i can add a happier part 2, idk.
> 
> i have more pleasant things in the works... and, hey, you can always [prompt me](http://glitterglamours.tumblr.com/ask)!

It was Halloween and Simon and Clary had just finished trick-or-treating across three separate neighborhoods. They returned to Simon's house and abandoned Luke and Jocelyn to the living room with his mom.

Simon chased Clary up the stairs, and she shrieked happily and tossed a mini Milky Way at his head.

He laughed when one of her fairy wings got caught on his door handle. He slid past her and overturned his pillowcase on his bed.

"I'll trade all of my Kit-Kats for all of your Twizzlers," he said, already digging through the pile.

Clary finally untangled herself and joined him.

"You always ask for the same thing."

When she reached for a peanut butter cup, Simon drew his plastic sword from where it was tied to his belt. He pointed it at her.

"As a knight of Camelot, it is my duty to protect my faithful subjects from your thieving fairy ways!"

Not threatened in the least, Clary popped the candy into her mouth.

"Fray!" Simon protested halfheartedly.

She smiled and dumped the contents of her own pillowcase right on top of his mound of candy. "Divvy it up. I'm going to get started."

He watched her go to his closet and pull a stack of sheets and blankets from the top shelf. As he picked through the candy he asked, "Which one do you want to watch tonight?" even though he knew the answer.

" _Hocus Pocus_!" Clary said as she stretched one of the sheets from his closet door to his desk.

"You always ask for the same thing," Simon mocked with a grin.

She ignored him.

Ten minutes later they were piling the remaining blankets and all of Simon's pillows onto the ground beneath a truly spectacular blanket fort.

He ducked out to switch off the lamp because Clary already had the flashlight turned on.

"Alright, Fray, start it up." He crawled back into the fort, careful not to drag any of the blankets down in a repeat of last year’s epic destruction.

They munched on candy, repeated their favorite lines, sang along, and were asleep before the credits rolled. It was a perfect night.

-

The first Halloween that Clary is gone, Simon doesn't think he’ll be able to get out of bed. It hasn’t even been three weeks and the pain is still fresh, but old memories are fresh in his mind and he clings to the way things used to be.

The blanket fort he ends up with is pathetic. He only manages to hang a sheet from the end of his bed to the dresser. His heart just isn’t in it.

Simon takes his softest blanket and his laptop and sits beneath the fort.

It feels like a mistake when he queues up _Hocus Pocus_. He wants to feel close to Clary again, but he only feels alone.

He covers his mouth to muffle the sudden sobs that wrack his body. The movie plays on, but Simon can’t see it through his tears.

He ignores the soft knock on his door, but Raphael can't take a hint and comes in anyway.

Simon's fangs drop in a poor attempt to threaten; exposing himself as the monster he is going to be forever, the reason he’s going to be alone _forever_. "Go away."

Raphael crouches to look at him, and Simon wants to see pity on his face so he can be angry, so he can lash out. But Raphael’s eyes are warm with empathy and Simon’s grief filled brain weakly reminds him that Raphael has lost as well. He drops his head onto his raised knees, suddenly exhausted.

He hears the soft rustle of Raphael’s hair brushing against the sheet, and the quiet press of his body against the floor as he settles next to Simon under the fort.

“I don’t want to be immortal.” Simon’s voice is dull, lifeless. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Raphael doesn’t speak right away, and in the silence Simon begins to feel numb.

And then Raphael presses his hand between his shoulder blades and it grounds him, and he breathes.

“You’re not alone, Simon.”

His voice is low, calming, and Simon closes his eyes tightly against a fresh wave of tears.

“It hurts. It’s going to hurt for a long time, but you’re strong,” Raphael says.

Simon lifts his head and gives it a shake. “I’m really not. Clary was- Clary was always the strong one.”

“Sometimes it helps to talk.” Raphael rubs his hand up and down Simon’s back. “Will you tell me about her?”

Simon takes a deep breath, and takes in the scene around him: the fort above his head, the movie playing at his feet, and the friend at his side. It gives him a place to start, so he does.


End file.
